Semiconductive devices are commonly fabricated on a substrate of crystalline material. The devices can then be separated by cleaving the substrate along planes of the crystal structure of the substrate. When edge-emitting laser diodes are fabricated on a substrate, the position of the cleaved facet with respect to other features on the substrate typically don't need to be controlled to within extremely precise references (e.g. less than a micron). However, in certain applications where the cleaved facet edge requires precision positioning with respect to other patterned features on the laser diode, a method of characterizing the cleave position is critical to establish yield or assembly offset positions. One such application is for the precise positioning of laser diodes in integrated laser-assisted read-write disc drive heads, where submicron alignment capability is desired to allow for acceptable alignment with optical components.
There is a need for a method and apparatus that can be used to determine of the relative position of features of electronic devices with respect to cleaving planes of a substrate.